Gary always asks why I don't just "go for it" with Dawn, he did the same thing with Misty and May, too. I know he's mostly kidding, but he doesn't realize how much that question's kept me awake at night.

I'll be the first to admit I'm no romantic, and I'm dense as a brick when it comes to that stuff. Misty kept dropping hints and I'd shrug them off, May gave me these looks and I'd ignore them, and I'm doing the same with Dawn. Is it any wonder Misty walked into Tracey's arms as soon as their paths crossed again? Or that May left me to travel with Drew? Or that Dawn's spending so much time with Kenny? And that's not even getting into all the other girls who've flirted with me and I've ignored.

When I was ten it made sense, at that age girls still have cooties. But I'm almost thirteen now, I should be over that...I don't wanna be like Brock and drool over every pretty girl that crosses my path, but I should be showing some interest. But I couldn't even make myself do it if I tried, and that worried me.

Last week, I finally figured it out. Gary asked me again why I didn't ask Dawn out before it was too late, and something clicked.

"Maybe I'm just not attracted to her. Or any girls," I said, and he gave me a knowing grin. I didn't know whether to be mortified that he could somehow always tell...or hopeful, that maybe he felt the same way.

"So you like guys, then," he said with a shrug. "It's no big-"

"It's not guys, Gary," I interrupted, suddenly determined to get everything out in the open, even if he punched me across the room I had to have my moment. "It's you."

I kissed him then, and after freezing for a second he returned it. When we parted, he looked oddly satisfied, and I suddenly had ihim/i figured out. The constant teasing, him following me everywhere, his little notes on the Kanto city signs.

"I was wondering when you'd get it, Ashy-boy," he said, and at that moment I couldn't have felt better if I'd won a hundred Pokemon battles in a row.